November 23, 2007

The Courts And Jewish Anti-semitism

No, it's not a case in the American courts but in the German courts. But the phenomenon of Jewish anti-Semitism (often disguised as hatred of Zionism and Israel) had been recognized much earlier in the United States by historians and journalists. It's not exactly my take on Tony Judt (read Leon Wieseltier's devastating essay on him), Noam Chomsky, George Soros or Norman Finkelstein, the first three being much more complicated both intellectually and psychologically for the ellipse and the last, well, whatever psychopathology applies to him, he does not really like Jews.In any case, the case came to a German court because the dazzling journalist Henryk M. Broder accused two vicious anti-Zionists of the primordial hatred, Jewish anti-Semitism. And they sued. The judge relied to a great extent on an essay by Alvin Rosenthal, distinguished professor at Indiana university, and found the Jewish self-hater a logical and factual basis for the Jewish anti-Zionist. And, of course, Broder was declared innocent and the two petitioners went home with nothing more than their psychosis.There is an article about this case in this week's Jewish Press:Here's the essence:

"The decision is fair," Broder told The Jewish Press. He noted that there are "nurses who kill their patients, attorneys who commit insurance fraud. Why can there not therefore be Jews who are anti-Semites?"